Web Service Broker Mediates Data Transformation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current web service technologies require client applications to be specifically designed for each web service due to differences in input data formats and invocation methods, making it cumbersome to invoke multiple services with varying requirements.
Innovation Solution
A web service broker that transforms client output data into the required format and invokes web services according to their specific needs, using transformation and invocation information stored during deployment, allowing generic development of client applications and facilitating interactions with multiple web services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If client applications are specifically designed for each web service to accommodate differences in input data formats and invocation methods, then the ability to invoke web services correctly is improved, but the complexity and effort of application development increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a web service broker as an intermediary component that sits between the client application and multiple web services. The broker handles the complexity of data transformation and service invocation by providing a unified interface to the application. The application simply sends requests to the broker, which then transforms the data according to service-specific requirements and invokes the appropriate services, thereby resolving the contradiction between reliable service invocation and application complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The web service broker is designed as a universal component that can handle multiple different web services with varying input requirements through a single unified interface. It provides multi-functional capabilities including data transformation, service routing, and invocation management, allowing the client application to interact with diverse services without being specifically designed for each one.
2Productivity
If client applications are hard-coded with service-specific API information and procedures for each web service, then the ability to invoke multiple services is improved, but the adaptability and reusability of the application decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The broker acts as a mediator that absorbs the service-specific details, allowing the application to remain generic and reusable. The application interacts with the broker through standardized interfaces, while the broker handles the variability of different web services through its transformation and routing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The broker performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring transformation rules and service mappings. This allows the application to invoke services without being hard-coded with specific API information, as the broker has already prepared the necessary transformations and routing logic in advance.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a single application intends to invoke numerous web services with different input parameter requirements, then the functionality of the application is improved, but the amount of hard-coding required for each service increases
Solution Approach 1:
The broker provides a universal platform that supports invocation of numerous different web services through a single application interface. It handles the diversity of service requirements through configurable transformation rules, eliminating the need to hard-code each service's specific API information in the application.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic configuration of service mappings and transformation rules in the broker, allowing the application to adapt to numerous services without recompilation or hard-coding. The broker dynamically determines the appropriate transformations and invocation methods based on the target service.
Data Source
AI summary
A web service broker transforms, at runtime, output data from client applications to the input data form required by various web services. Such transformations are based on data and/or parameter mappings that are accessible to the broker. Further, the broker accesses and invokes particular web services in the manner required by the web services. Such invocations are based on information regarding the access style, such as RPC style of communication, and encoding, such as SOAP, associated with respective web services. The broker provides a generic framework in that it is capable of supporting transformation of different data and data forms from many different applications to respective data that many different respective web services can use.